11.77.1When Phrasicleides was archon in Athens, the Eightieth Olympiad was celebrated, that in which Toryllas the Thessalian won the "stadion"; and the Romans elected as consuls Quintus Fabius and Titus Quinctius Capitolinus. During this year, in Asia the Persian generals who had passed over to Cilicia made ready three hundred ships, which they fitted out fully for warfare, and then with their land force they advanced overland through Syria and Phoenicia; and with the fleet accompanying the army along the coast, they arrived at Memphis in Egypt.
11.77.2At the outset they broke the siege of the White Fortress, having struck the Egyptians and the Athenians with terror; but later on, adopting a prudent course, they avoided any frontal encounters and strove to bring the war to an end by the use of stratagems. Accordingly, since the Attic ships lay moored at the island known as Prosopitis, they diverted by means of canals the river which flowed around the island, and thus made the island a part of the mainland.
11.77.3When the ships thus all of a sudden came to rest on dry land, the Egyptians in alarm left the Athenians in the lurch and came to terms with the Persians. The Athenians, being now without allies and seeing that their ships had become useless, set fire to them to prevent their falling into the hands of the enemy, and then themselves, undismayed at the alarming plight they were in, fell to exhorting one another to do nothing unworthy of the fights they had won in the past.
11.77.4Consequently, with a display of deeds of valour surpassing in heroism the men who perished in Thermopylae in defence of Greece, they stood ready to fight it out with the enemy. But the Persian generals, Artabazus and Megabyzus, taking note of the exceptional courage of their foes and reasoning that they would be unable to annihilate such men without sacrificing many myriads of their own, made a truce with the Athenians whereby they should with impunity depart from Egypt.
11.77.5So the Athenians, having saved their lives by their courage, departed from Egypt, and making their way through Libya to Cyrene got safely back, as by a miracle, to their native land. note
11.77.6While these events were taking place, in Athens Ephialtes the son of Sophonides, who, being a popular leader, had provoked the masses to anger against the Areopagites, persuaded the Assembly to vote to curtail the power of the Council of the Areopagus and to destroy the renowned customs which their fathers had followed. Nevertheless, he did not escape the punishment for attempting such lawlessness, but he was done to death by night and none ever knew how he lost his life.
ch. 78 note
11.78.1At the conclusion of this year Philocles was archon in Athens, and in Rome Aulus Postumius Regulus and Spurius Furius Mediolanus succeeded to the consulship. During this year a war arose between the Corinthians and Epidaurians on the one hand and the Athenians on the other, and the Athenians took the field against them and after a sharp battle were victorious.
11.78.2With a large fleet they put in at a place called Halieis, landed on the Peloponnesus, and slew not a few of the enemy. note But the Peloponnesians rallied and gathered a strong force, and it came to a battle with the Athenians near the place called Cecryphaleia note in which the Athenians were again victorious.
11.78.3After such successes the Athenians, seeing that the Aeginetans were not only puffed up over their former achievements but also hostile to Athens, decided to reduce them by war.
11.78.4Therefore the Athenians dispatched a strong fleet against them. The inhabitants of Aegina, however, who had great experience in fighting at sea and enjoyed a great reputation therefor, were not dismayed at the superiority of the Athenians, but since they had a considerable number of triremes and had built some new ones, they engaged the Athenians in battle, but were defeated with the loss of seventy ships; and, their spirits crushed by so great a disaster, they were forced to join the league which paid tribute to Athens. This was accomplished for the Athenians by their general Leocrates, who was engaged in the war with the Aeginetans nine months in all.
